* Stay calm. Being arrested is not the end of the world. Some apprehension is unavoidable but you can reduce this by concentrating on each event as it happens, and not letting your imagination run wild about what will happen next.
* Ask a relative or friend or even a stranger (get the name and address) to witness your arrest. If you own a cell phone, send a text message to your family, friends, and lawyer informing them that you are being arrested. You may also call your family, friends, and lawyer so they may listen in on your arrest.
* Ask the person or persons arresting you for their names, their official positions, and the office or unit they belong to.
* Ask for a copy of their authority to arrest you and examine it carefully. Note particularly if you are correctly named in the warrant of arrest, and the offense for which you are being arrested.
* If there is any defect in the warrant, register your objection to being arrested but do not resist or use force.
* If you are lawfully arrested, you may be searched for dangerous weapons or anything, which may be used as proof that you committed the crime for which you are being arrested.

* Inquire from your arresting officer where you will be taken. Ask that you be accompanied by the relative, friend or stranger who witnessed your arrest. Assure the arresting officers that this is for their protection as well as yours.
* Ask to be allowed to telephone your lawyers; if denied, ask your relative, friend or other witness to your arrest, to do so. Inform your lawyer of your arrest, the identity of the arresting officers, the cause of your arrest, and where you will be taken.
* Do not, at any time, offer any physical resistance to the arrest. State that you object to your arrest and are not waiving any of your rights, but are going peacefully in order to avoid violence.
* If the persons making the arrest are in civilian clothes, or refuse to give their names or show any warrant of arrest, refuse to go with them. Ask them to let you call for a policeman to verify their authority. Do not agree to being blindfolded. The law requires arresting officers to be properly dressed, to behave properly, and to respect your rights and your dignity. If the arresting officers violate these requirements, do not cooperate, but do not use violence either. Make them carry you out, shout for help, create a scene so that your neighbors and other passersby may notice what is happening. Remember all violations of your rights and complain about them at the first opportunity after your arrest, when you are presented to a judge or fiscal/public prosecutor.
* If you are told that you are not being arrested but merely invited for questioning, reply that you will consult your lawyer first. Do so, then get your lawyer to talk to the officers and arrange a date, time, and place for your questioning. If they do not allow you to consult your lawyer, refuse to go with them. If they insist, their acts become an arrest and the preceding advice applies.
* The general rule is that you can only be arrested upon proper warrant of arrest issued by a competent court. However, there are three exceptions to this rule:

– When you have committed, are actually committing, or attempting to commit a crime in the presence of the arresting officer;
– When an offense has just been committed and the arresting officer has probable cause to believe based on personal knowledge of facts and circumstances that you committed the offense;
– When you have escaped from prison or detention or while being transferred from one confinement to another.
REPEAT: REMAIN CALM.
Concentrate on what is happening now. Do not imagine what will happen next. Many of your fears are self-created. Above all, do not worry if you forgot to do any of the things listed above. They are counsels of perfection, not always attainable. As long as you remain calm and collected, you will be able to protect your rights.

* Do not go out alone. The risk of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial execution or “salvaging” increases if no one witnesses or is willing to testify to the arrest of the person who disappeared or was salvaged.

* Avoid going to places where no one knows you.

* Do not stay at home or elsewhere alone.

* Tell your family or friends of the possibility of your being arrested, and what to do in case you are arrested. Tell them specifically who to run to for help, how to get in touch with them, and where to search for you.

* Before going out, tell your family or friends where you are going, whom you will see, why, how long you expect to be out, and what to do if you fail to return on time, or fail to reach your destination or keep your appointment. If you own a cell phone, send a text message to your friends or family informing them that you have reached your destination and are proceeding to your next appointment.

* When you go out, always carry adequate identification, and avoid carrying anything that could be construed as incriminating.

* In case you are being arrested, see to it that people know that you are being arrested and by whom. If necessary, shout or make a scene to attract attention to your arrest. If you own a cell phone, call or send a text message to your family, friends, and lawyers to inform them that you are being arrested.

* Disappearances and salvaging can be prevented or minimized if your family, friends or even bystanders will accompany or follow you and your arresting officers to learn where you are being taken and to show concern over your safety. As soon as possible, they should notify a lawyer or respected member of the community (a priest, teacher, doctor, or civic leader) who, in turn, should try to visit you immediately.

* During detention, your family and friends should visit you as often as possible, and send things to you (food, magazine, medicines, clothes, etc.) on days they cannot or are not allowed to visit. Never agree to be taken out of jail or the detention center by anyone unless accompanied by your lawyer or a member of your family.

* Even if you have reliable information that there is a plan to arrest or salvage you, it is not advisable to go into hiding. Instead, request your lawyer or other responsible person to inquire if there is a warrant for your arrest, and if there is, to arrange for you to present yourself to the proper authorities under adequate guarantee for your safety. Meanwhile, prepare yourself by reviewing your rights and deciding what you will do if you are arrested, to protect your safety and enforce your rights.

Know your rights: What every Pinoy should know

MANILA – A lawyers’ group is reminding the public to be knowledgeable of their rights amid the spate of extrajudicial killings and allegedly questionable police operations that resulted in deaths of drug suspects.
The Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) said Filipinos should keep in mind the following basic rights:

The right to life;

The right not to be tortured nor subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

The right not to be subjected to forced labor;

The right not to be imprisoned for non-payment of debt;

The right not to be punished for an act which was not yet a crime at the time of its commission;

The right to be recognized and treated as a person; and

The right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

”These rights are absolute. Under no condition can their fulfillment or enjoyment be suspended. This is true even when martial law or any other state of emergency has been declared. These are non-derogable rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which the Philippines is a signatory,” FLAG said.
FLAG also listed down inalienable and inviolable rights:

The right not to have your house searched without a search warrant issued by a judge, and not to have anything seized which is not specified in the search warrant. However, if you are legally arrested, your person and immediate surroundings may be searched for dangerous weapons, and any evidence found on your person or immediate vicinity (only on your person and immediate vicinity) which may have been used to commit the crime for which you are being arrested may be seized.

The right to liberty and security of person. You can be deprived of liberty only on grounds and procedures established by the Constitution and existing law.

The right not to be arrested except on evidence that a crime has been committed and that you probably committed it. You may be arrested only on the strength of a warrant of arrest issued by a judge, except:
– When you have committed, are actually committing, or are attempting to commit an offense in the presence of the arresting officer;
– When an offense has been committed and the arresting office has probable cause to believe, based on personal knowledge of the facts and circumstance, that you committed the offense;
-When you have escaped from prison or detention or while being transferred from one confinement to another.

FLAG also reminded the public that the legality of one’s arrest must be determined in an inquest proceeding conducted by a civilian prosecutor.

The prosecutor, in a summary proceeding, can order, affirm the legality of one’s arrest and prepare the corresponding complaint or information with the trial court.

”Often the inquest prosecutor will ask the person arrested if s/he desires a preliminary investigation, in which case s/he will be asked to sign a waiver,” FLAG said.

”Do not sign the waiver without being fully informed of the nature and consequences of signing it. Signing the waiver may — and often does — mean that you are going to remain in detention, pending preliminary investigation. It may also mean that you are waiving your right to file cases against those who arrested you.”

FLAG said an arrested individual must take note of the following rights:

To be informed of your right to remain silent and other constitutional rights);

To have competent and independent counsel preferably of your own choice; and)

To be provided with counsel if you cannot afford one.

In all criminal prosecutions, FLAG said a defendant has the following rights:

Not to be compelled to testify against yourself;

To remain silent and to counsel;

To be informed of the nature and cause of the accusations against you;

To have a speedy, public, and impartial trial;

To appeal any conviction;

To be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved;

To be present and heard by yourself and counsel;

To avail yourself of court processes to secure the compulsory attendance of witnesses and the presentation of evidence in your defense;

To meet the witnesses face-to-face and to cross-examine them;

The right to a preliminary investigation;

The right against double jeopardy;

Before conviction, the right to bail except for capital offenses when evidence of guilt is strong);

The right to be treated with humanity and with respect for your personal dignity;

The right to liberty of abode and the right to travel.

FLAG chairman Jose Manuel Diokno earlier called out the administration of President Rodrigo

Duterte for the rising number of suspected drug criminals being killed either in police operations or by alleged vigilantes.

i called BPI Customer Service 89-100 today to ask them to reverse an annual membership fee charge on my credit card. i have had my BPI Credit Card for many years, decades and they have not charged me this fee. also, all other competitive credit cards from other banks no longer charge annual membership fees.

the call center agent told me she will check if their system is back online already.

and that is another issue with BPI – their computer / internet system seem to be offline often and this has been happening for many years. there have been times when you try to transact something at their physical branches and you can encounter their systems to be offline and you can’t transact anything with the bank that you are asked to return. if it happens at the physical bank, then it also happens on their telephone service which was what i encountered today.

i don’t understand why BPI, the country’s second largest bank have not fixed this problem of their computer / internet system being off-line from time to time. i would think being the second largest bank in the country gives them enough smarts and resources to fix this.

not only that, BPI is an Ayala – owned company, the Ayalas also own Globe Telecoms, the country’s second largest cellphone and internet service provider. for sure they are using Globe Telecoms. why wouldn’t Globe make sure BPI has internet service on a 24/7 basis?

unless of course these Ayala companies, BPI and Globe are both incompetent.

and true enough after a few seconds, the call center agent tells me their system is offline. she asked me why i called and i told her about the annual membership fee charge.

these were the 3 stupid things the BPI call center agent said:

she asked me to call back 89-100 since their system is down – i objected to this and told her the problem is with their company, their system is down that is why she was unable to help me with my problems, i asked why was she inconveniencing their customer by asking me to call back when the problem is with them? i also told her it is not easy to call 89-100. lines tend to be busy and how will i know when the system will be back online for me to call at the right time? she agreed with me it was not right for her to ask me to call back. so she said she will be the one to call me. and that is when she said the 2nd stupid thing.

she asked me what was the most convenient time for her to call me – this got me really ticked. so i asked her the question – if i told you the most convenient time for me for you to call me, will you be able to call me at the time i identify? it was 11:30 am at the time of our conversation so as a theory, i asked her – if i told you 2:00 pm is convenient, can you guarantee to me all has been fixed by then and will you call me at 2 pm? she answered – no sir, i can’t promise to call you at that time. i asked her why are you not sure if you can make that call? she answered – because sir i do not know what time the system will be back on line. i told her, do you now realize you asked me a stupid question? her reply – yes, sir. and from there, it led her to ask a 3rd stupid question.

she asked : will you accept my call after i fix the matter, sir? that almost made me drop the telephone. i asked her: miss – why will i not accept your call when you call me? i called you to fix something for me, i gave you my cell number and agreed for you to call me when it’s done, why will i not accept your call? miss, that’s another stupid thing to say. her reply – sorry, sir. i will just call you after we’re back on-line.

i just couldn’t stand it so i gave her advise and told her to stop solely relying on the script they were asked to deliver and start thinking first before saying anything. i told her understand what’s happening in the conversation and respond to it accordingly, don’t just parrot what’s on the script.

that was not the first time i have encountered such conversations with BPI customer service call center personnel and that is why i am sure it was part of the script they are being asked to deliver to their customers.

it is probably the fault of the heads of the call center company that BPI uses and BPI itself for coming up with such an inane script for their customer service personnel to deliver.

there are several problems here that the call center company and BPI have created:

they have asked their customer service call center agents NOT TO THINK, not to use their brains in talking to customers

instead of asking them to think and process things on their own, they have asked their call center agents to deliver by rote, like robots a fixed script to customers. this is the rule : do not think, just deliver the script

lastly, whoever developed the script these call center agents are delivering is an idiot. he/she developed a script that does not correctly predict what happens during calls and these are really lines that make their call center agents sound stupid.

on the bright side, what this means is that the call center agent who attended to me (Mylie Mendoza ID #183xxx) strictly follows the script she was asked to deliver. the only problem is that she did not process the situation at all. but then, i think the rule given to her by her superiors at the call center was for her not to think, just deliver the prepared script.

Senator Pia Cayetano is a champion for women and women’s rights and the RH Law. her brother Senator Alan Peter Cayetano and Senator Kojo Pimentel are champions against corruption. All three from what we can tell are very principled senators.

Pia would always speak out against things that are not right and will take on anyone, even the UAAP when she took the fight for student players unjustly prevented from going to the school of their choice and playing for the school because of residency requirements. She was the most visible champion for the RH Law.

Alan Peter and Pimentel were in the middle and yes leading the senate hearings during the corruption and plunder allegations against VP Jejomar Binay.

for some reason and maybe its the duct tapes on their mouths and perhaps they are victims of kidnapping. the three have been absent on things that Rody Duterte had said and done during this campaign period that were directly and unabashedly against their stated principles and beliefs.

Pia has been uncharacteristically silent on women’s issues and there have been many, Duterte has said “women are spare cars”; he has been shown in pictures groping and kissing women in the campaign trail and the worst of them all – when Duterte who was in front of a corpse of girl who has been gang raped said he found the girl pretty and he as Mayor should have been first to rape her. Pia must have stuffed several rolls of duct tape into her mouth.

Alan Peter and Pimentel were the loud and unflinching champions on anti- corruption during the senate hearings on the plunder allegations against Jejomar Binay and the rest of the Binay family. they were the strong voices during those hearings and even stronger outside the senate during media interviews. we admired them for that. but for some reason, and we blame this on the duct tape just like in the case of Pia, they have been silent on the allegations made by Senator Trillanes on Rody Duterte’s bank accounts which Trillanes claims contain/contained P211M and P2.4B.

why have they been silent? why have they surrendered their principles to the duct tape? oh yes, they support Rudy Duterte’s candidacy. yes, it is that easy to surrender beliefs and principles for them. and Alan Peter is the VP running mate of Duterte.

there is a little bit of challenge to read the word, well 2 words, but when you’re able to say it well enough, the thing works. this is a kind of ad where you know what it means when you see it before you’re actually able to say it.

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